Tomorrow is the beginning of our beautiful penitential season of Lent. It is the time when we are invited to take spiritual inventory of our relationship with God and others. It is offered to us through the wisdom of the Church, knowing that we are indeed sinful people, though we try so very hard to follow Christ as we should.The reality is that we are the earthen vessels that St. Paul once described in his letters to the Early Church. The strength and grace that we have comes not from us, but from God. We are drenched in this grace and given an abundance of interior, spiritual strength each time we receive the Sacraments. We are all in need of this grace. The treasure we hold within ourselves is the very presence of God. Even as sinner, we become strong because of the love and forgiveness we always receive.I wish you, dear reader, a blessed Lent! A happy Lent! After all, Lent puts before us the beautiful love story that has changed the world for all time. Lent takes us to the Cross, but it doesn't leave us there. We eventually stand at the empty tomb and rejoice that this love story would never end. Nothing in our life that is burdensome or difficult, no sickness, no abandonment, not even death can separate us from the love poured forth upon us from Christ. And so we enter into this life, doing things such as fasting and abstaining from meat. We make sacrifices of time, treasure or talent. We try to chisel away at our selfishness and think of others. We try to find more time for prayer. WHY do we do these things? Because we are invited to love in return and we know that our efforts to die to ourselves, in remembrance of his dying for us, are tangible ways that we need to make that return. May these days be sacred to each of us. A blessed, a happy Lent to all!